Game of Thrones: The Wrath of the Sleeping Dragon

The entire castle is built of white marble and is filled with the atmosphere of art, music and culture.

Countless poems and musical pieces are often set here, telling stories of knights' martial arts, virtues, and loyalty, and their pursuit of beautiful noble ladies.

However, Highgarden now faces the army of Dorne and has no strong natural defenses or tall walls to hold its ground.

With the defeat of Nightsong City, this most beautiful city in the Seven Kingdoms was suddenly plunged into a precarious situation.

Chapter 484 Current Status of the Storm Land

The Dornish army made a breakthrough, breaching the frontier and besieging Highgarden, the capital of the Reach.

Velas Tyrell, heir to House Tyrell, replaced his father as commander of Highgarden, personally taking command of the city walls and reinforcing the defenses.

While strengthening their defenses, the Tyrells also released ravens to appeal to their wealthiest and most powerful vassals, the Hightowers of Oldtown, hoping they could lead their vassals and soldiers to relieve the siege of Highgarden.

House Hightower, one of the oldest and proudest noble families in Westeros, has a lineage that, like House Stark, can be traced back to the First Men, and they once reigned during the Dawn Age.

However, after that, the Hightoar family did not resist the Andal invasion but instead assisted them. Later, they submitted to the successive Reach kings, giving up their crown in exchange for retaining their ancient privileges and status.

Although the owners of the Tower of Heights are powerful and extremely wealthy, they prefer trade and dislike war, rarely participating in the civil wars of Westeros.

However, during this siege of Highgarden, the Hightower family, known for their accurate investment acumen and ability to choose sides, responded to the call for the title of king.

It seems that Ironheart has sided with the traditional nobles in their resistance against the Iron Throne, and they have dispatched a new army to Highgarden since receiving the Raven.

With a large number of troops gathered here, a thick cloud of war suddenly hung over the rich river bend.

King's Landing has just concluded a grand wedding, while turmoil is brewing in the Reach. Dorne achieved a great victory in the Battle of Nightsong and subsequently besieged Highgarden. These are all recent events that have not yet spread widely.

Meanwhile, in Stormlands, which is right next to the river bend, House Baratheon should have been the most active in responding to the fall of King's Landing, striving to reclaim the capital and bring back the king who was imprisoned. However, Storm's End remained silent, seemingly indifferent to the news from the outside world.

When Reyne personally led the Golden Company to besiege King's Landing, Renly promised Jaime that he would send an army to support King's Landing, but no one knows where that army went.

Storm's End is only a short distance from King's Landing, yet even after King's Landing fell, no Baratheon soldiers arrived.

Perhaps they heard the news of King's Landing's fall halfway there and turned back.

The entire Stormlands has been like it's offline ever since the Targaryen army returned, just waiting to die.

This time, Dorne's deployment of troops to break through the frontier attracted the attention of Stormlands. Renly sent a reinforcement with some supplies, and then they went silent again.

However, it wasn't that Renly didn't want to take initiative; rather, the situation in Storm's End was more complex than outsiders imagined.

Since the Allied Forces were defeated and disbanded after the Battle of Riverrun, Stannis was defeated and captured on the battlefield. However, he was not as important as King Robert and Warden of the North Eddard Stark. He was watched 24 hours a day, so the level of supervision was not high and there was some negligence.

Stannis's advisor, Davos Seaworth, the "Onion Knight," was extremely loyal to him. After escaping from the battlefield, he hired a group of mercenaries to plan a rescue for Stannis, and eventually succeeded in kidnapping Stannis in King's Landing.

However, Stannis was rescued from King's Landing's dungeon by his men, but had nowhere suitable to go.

His fiefdom of Dragonstone had long been occupied by the Targaryen army, and now he had no soldiers, no generals, and no money. Therefore, he was forced to return to his homeland of Storm's End and seek refuge with his brother.

The current Duke of Storm's End is Stannis's younger brother, Renly Baratheon, who is only fifteen years old. Upon hearing of his brother's return, he was completely unprepared and gave his second brother a grand welcome home, even holding a banquet to celebrate his brother's return.

But the boy who was completely unsuspecting back then is probably kicking himself now.

Stannis was not as fair as others described. He was a serious and earnest man, lacking a sense of humor, incapable of hypocrisy or flattery. However, he also had his own selfish desires, which were hidden beneath his tough and cold exterior, making him difficult to see through.

Renly was made Duke of Storm's End. When the three Baratheon brothers separated from the family, he was only a few years old, so it's hard to say that the relationship between them was particularly deep.

The innocent boy warmly welcomed his brother, while Stannis was like a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Although he had a knee injury that prevented him from standing for long periods, he quickly gained a foothold in Storm's End by using his cunning and won over many of his former loyalists.

Stannis held the city for a year during the War of the Usurper ten years prior, thus earning him unparalleled prestige within Storm's End.

Moreover, the two brothers are only openly at odds, not openly at odds. Stannis also bears the Baratheon surname, so many of Renly's vassals can flirt with Stannis in secret without any qualms.

However, for Renly, it was too late for him to realize his brother's ambition.

As the nominal ruler of Stormlands and Duke of Stormsbrough, he has lost control of nearly half of his forces. If he were to turn against his brother now, he would likely face the imminent collapse of Stormlands.

Renly's staff had given him two options.

The first suggestion was to persuade him to strike first and send an assassin to seize the opportunity to kill Stannis, without dragging things out, otherwise things would become more and more complicated. However, Renly hesitated in the face of this suggestion.

Because in the faith of the Seven Gods, patricide is an extremely serious sin. Even if Renly may not care, he cannot silence the world's opinions.

The second option proposed by the advisors was to submit to the Iron Throne, surrendering Storm's End and even Stormlands without losing a single soldier, in exchange for the Iron Throne's forgiveness of Renly and the Baratheon family.

Observing how Viserys dealt with Cersei, the former queen was still able to live in the Red Keep, Tyrion was also accepted into the King's Council, and Renly should also be able to gain some benefits if he surrenders Storm's End, at the very least he can save his life.

However, Renly was also hesitant and undecided about the second option, because surrendering meant putting his head under someone else's knife and having his life at their mercy.

So he tentatively released some information to see how the Iron Throne would react.

To his disappointment, the Iron Throne did not react in any way.

Chapter 485 A Letter from Viserys

However, at this critical juncture, a letter from King's Landing broke the eerie atmosphere in Storm's End.

fluttering—

A raven with jet-black feathers swooped down from the sky, landing on a high tower in Storm's End. A servant then informed them, and two maesters hurried over.

"Sir Cresson, there is a letter from King's Landing."

The scholar from Storm's End fed the raven some food, and skillfully untied the letter tied to the raven's leg while the raven was eating. He then unfolded the letter, glanced at the seal, and his expression changed slightly.

"what?"

Meanwhile, an elderly scholar on the other side also changed his expression upon hearing the words of the 'young' scholar.

He took the letter from the other party and glanced at it. The letter's wax seal clearly bore the emblem of a three-headed fire dragon, with a touch of gold along the edge, directly indicating the writer's identity.

"Is this a letter written by Viserys himself?"

"To whom is the young dragon lord writing this letter?"

Scholar Cresson and Scholar of Storm's End asked their questions almost simultaneously, but Scholar Cresson addressed Viserys as "Young Dragon Lord" while Scholar of Storm's End referred to him as "Young Dragon Lord".

The envelope of the letter clearly reads, "Please pass this on to the master of Windbreak Castle."

Who is the owner of Storm's End? The answer is self-evident.

The two maesters exchanged a glance, then the Storm's End maester took the letter from the elderly Maester Clyson, nodded slightly, and then walked down the steps of the tower, heading straight for Renly's study.

Maester Cresson stood atop the tower, watching the departing figure of the younger maester, his dim, yellowish eyes gleaming.

"This letter..."

Clearly, the scholar, though over seventy years old, was still quite sharp-minded and boasted of his extensive experience, having eaten more salt than rice in his lifetime.

He felt there must be something fishy about this.

Why did Viserys secretly write a letter to Renly? As mortal enemies, what could they possibly have to communicate? What would Viserys write in the letter?

If Viserys is now writing to Renly, does that mean Renly had written to Viserys before, and this is just a reply from him?

The gray-haired Maester Cresson stood atop the tower, his hand resting on the railing, his mind racing.

Furthermore, recalling the recent news that Renly had contacted Viserys and inquired about the treatment he would receive for kneeling before Storm's End...

Scholar Clement felt he was getting closer and closer to the truth!

"not good."

Then the old maester's expression suddenly changed. If it was really as he imagined, then Viserys and Renly's conspiracy must be targeting Stannis.

Although the old maester, as a former maester of Storm's End, treated the three children of House Baratheon equally, he also liked Renly very much.

Cresson initially followed Stannis to Dragonstone purely out of pity for the boy. He had performed the greatest service in defending the castle for over a year, yet received the least reward, being banished to the desolate Dragonstone. The old maester felt that Stannis needed him the most.

Maester Cresson treated the three Baratheon children as his own. Now that Robert was imprisoned, the other two brothers should have joined forces to fight the enemy, instead of fighting amongst themselves for power and even being sown apart by their enemies, which would have led to fratricide.

"Ranley has gone astray!"

"No, I should hurry and inform Stannis so he can stop Renly."

Scholar Clement felt a bit overworked after only a short while of thinking; cold sweat even broke out on his forehead, and his nose turned slightly red.

The old maester was indeed quite old, and with an injury on his buttocks, he hurried down from the tower and headed straight for Stannis's bedroom, almost tripping and falling along the way.

"Scholar Clement, what's wrong?"

"What's the rush?"

Before Maester Cresson even reached Stannis's bedroom, he bumped into Davos. Onion Knight quickly helped Maester Cresson, who was about to fall, and asked him in surprise.

"I'm going to find Stannis!"

"Take me to Stannis immediately and tell him that Renly is going to kill him!"

Scholar Cresson, supported by Davos, was slightly out of breath. His wrinkled old face was flushed, and he grabbed Davos's hand and spoke urgently.

"what?!"

Maester Cresson's words startled Davos, who nearly turned and ran toward Stannis's bedroom.

Fortunately, Onion Knight was a naturally cautious person. After calmly considering the matter, he felt that it was unlikely.

While Lord Stannis's power is not as great as Lord Renly's, it is not much weaker either. If Renly wants to kill Lord Stannis at this critical juncture, wouldn't he be doing something that would hurt his own people and please his enemies?

Moreover, according to the beliefs of the Seven, those who kill their parents will inevitably face the punishment of the gods. Based on Davos's understanding of Renly during this period, he is not a person with a firm will or decisive actions.

How could he have made up his mind at this time to risk a civil war to kill Lord Stannis? And how could he have the courage to commit patricide?

"This matter is of great importance, Scholar Clement. We must not act rashly, otherwise it may easily lead to misunderstandings."

After calming down, Davos spoke in a steady voice.

"Why don't you tell Lord Stannis what happened yourself?"

Davos then summoned a guard and had him help Maester Cresson to find Stannis.

"Someone come here!"

Out of caution, he gathered all the guards loyal to Stannis and surrounded the area around Stannis's bedroom.

It's better to be safe than sorry.

Although Davos instinctively felt that this was impossible, no one in this world has the ability to predict the future, so who can be so sure?

However, if one is careless, the inevitable outcome in this game of power will be utter destruction.